Into Summer

The summer is here full force. Clothing is light; daylight hours long. I am learning to work slowly, to move gently in the heat.

I am also, finally, making masks for myself and my family.

Don't know about you but this past week I have been almost useless. The US surge in virus brought back the “can’t look away” feeling of a slow-motion car crash. I hovered on news outlets. I hungered for the unavailable resolution, the way I used to shake the Magic 8 ball as a kid, when I wanted a different answer to appear.

Now I am inching forward again. Small goals. Small steps. “Little and often makes much. “ I need that truth right now.

Music helps. Quiet music like cool water soothes and liberates. Rhythm, melody, carry me back from the edge.

Do you have a playlist you’d recommend? Let me know, please.

The other gift is regular company. My group, Art Together, provides focus and welcome company. I started the group when the lockdown started. It just seemed like art time together was a gift i could give. In fact, it’s a gift for me too. Even when I come to a session unfocused, some alchemy happens. Work happens. Worries recede. Hands create.

Art Together meets Sundays 3-5. It’s drop-in and free.

Here’s some of the work folks have done in our hours together. Really I should rename the group “Any Art On-line.” Draw, cut, glue, print, stitch, paint. Just come. Relax. Make art.

Art. A port in the storm. A boat to travel on, together.

“My faith in the world of art is intense but not irrational or naïve. Art invites us to take the journey beyond price, beyond costs into bearing witness to the world as it is and as it should be. Art invites us to know beauty and to solicit it from even the most tragic of circumstances.     - ”

— Toni Morrison

Wander Fearlessly

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“Go ahead. Wander fearlessly down the corridors of knowledge.” - Esther Barazzone, Kirkland College

The blank page is scary. To start, you must make a mark, then another. That means you step onto a path, where all is possible but you must choose, again and again, with no guarantee. Like walking in the woods - is it a path? A dead-end? Are you lost or moving forward?

We make art because we long to. It’s elements call us: color, line, light, the very stuff of perception. We long to make something deep inside visible. Art is passion, risky and challenging, but at its best a source of joy.

So if you make art, you are already brave. Look at your tools. What’s calling you today? Pick up a tool and make a mark. Just one. Defy that blank page. Now, make another. Play with shape. Add color. Before you start to worry, get another piece of paper and start again. Start over and over. When the playful energy subsides, step back, get a cup of tea, and look. What happened? Which calls to you? Start there, and, thinking a little more, work back in.

Art-making is courage. But the truth is, there are no rules. You are free. It’s just a piece of paper. Keep trying, and let the surprises come.

Practice. Try. Look. Listen. Repeat.

• You need to explore, so carry your best gear with you.

• Stop and listen to what’s happening on the page. ]

• Work on more than one piece at once.

• Take pictures along the way. It’s a gift to be able to see where a piece came from and the stages it went through.

• Stop before you are done. Stop when you are only 75% done. Slow down the closer you are to finished.

• Remember that contrast is the most important way to get the viewer’s attention. Create from the heart. Use a limited palette.

• Learn from folks who are ahead of you on the trail.

• It’s okay to do “too much” - that’s one way you’ll learn what “just right” looks like.

These lessons swirl in my head while I work. Pushing the boundaries. I watch what happens. Ask, what if?

Making art is taking chances. Keep going. Let go. Throw and see where the toss lands.